The destruction of purple urchins

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Unfortunately can't eat the purple ones. Sigh.
At least they're satisfying to squash.
 
I thought the article said they're edible if being fed, it's when they are in shutdown mode due to lack of food source that they become icky?
 
I see more loss of kelp where the coast is more exposed to the increase of and severity of storms, I see urchins and kelp together in protected coves. The water temps have also been consistently warmer and that may be a big part of the problem. I have heard that smashing them exacerbates the issue.
 
Unfortunately can't eat the purple ones. Sigh.
At least they're satisfying to squash.

Although I generally agree they are far less satisfying than red urchins, they are edible if fattened up in an aquaculture setting. The reason they aren't directly from the sea is that their food supply there hasn't allowed significant development of the ovaries.

It isn't the purple urchins' fault so I would take no pleasure in "squashing" them.
 
I thought the article said they're edible if being fed, it's when they are in shutdown mode due to lack of food source that they become icky?

I don't know how destroying more kelp to fatten them up is going to preserve the kelp that they are destroying already. I guess if some company makes money off it...

On the NorCal coast over the last several decades I've seen some localized areas get decimated by the purple urchins and come back, but nothing on the scale that is happening now. I should have paid more attention, but I'm not a marine biologist so I looked at it as a nuisance rather than a phenonom to study. For a small area, acres, to return was 5 years or more, as I remember.

I have heard that smashing them exacerbates the issue.

They reproduce by broadcasting eggs and sperm, so you may help them do that by breaking them up, if developed enough. @drbill is in the thread so he would be a better source than I.



Bob
 
It's pretty hard when looking at a time lapse movie of those critters destroying a kelp forest to not want to destroy the juveniles.
Yes, PURP is a great project. But I tend to look at this like lionfish. If I'm wrong about making it worse with destruction (tho' I agree about not releasing mature eggs), then I'd be happy to leave them alone.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom